


The Insanely Cool Jared Kleinman

by FallingInAForest



Category: Dear Evan Hansen
Genre: Alana and Jared are ??? Good acquaintances, But thats not a big part of the story, Connor is bi, Jared ironically loves memes, Jared tries, Jared's Driving Is Questionable, M/M, Zoe is precious, evan is anxious, jared is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2018-10-25 14:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10766628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingInAForest/pseuds/FallingInAForest
Summary: Jared tries to be nice to Evan. He really does. He tries to be nice to everybody actually, he's just got a weird sense of humor and a bad way of showing it. Suddenly, he finds himself wrapped up with a new acquaintance, and Evan's new friends, the Murphy’s, one of which Jared isn't all too much of a fan of.





	1. Really, Kleinman?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying for another fic today, so please wish me luck! I hope this one goes okay. I apologize for how short all of my stuff is right now. Maybe when I get a better grasp of it all, the chapters will be longer and more structured.

All he had to do was say something nice. That's what Jared was trying to accomplish. Year after year, he had been, well, not nice to Evan. And year after year he had regret it. But something in him made it almost impossible to be nice to the kid in a striped shirt.

"H-hey." Evan says, after approaching Jared, who can tell that Evan has just as much anxiety as always, but at least not more than usual. Which is good.

"What's up, acorn?" Jared asks as his way of playing it cool, using his rude nickname for Evan, which doesn't exactly help the whole “being nice” thing.

"You said you would give me a ride home, so I j-just thought that-" Evan began, but Jared cut him off.

"Shh. Of course I'm still giving you a ride, I just was asking how you were." Jared says, climbing into his vehicle. With this, Jared was trying to coach himself into believing that he can start his quest of niceness, by calling himself insanely cool and awesome and other things of the sort in his head.

"Oh. Cool." Evan says, and climbs in the passenger seat, notably taking a deep breath, probably in fear of Jared's… Driving skills.

"You still haven't answered me," Jared persists, acting as if he doesn't notice Evan's wary glance.

"Oh, r-right. I'm the same as always." Evan answers, tapping his fingers on the side of the car door.   
  
"Very descriptive." Jared says, hoping it comes off as a joke. But to Evan, nothing ever seems to, which definitely doesn't help Jared's case.

"S-sorry." Evan says as a reply, making Jared shake his head quietly. Maybe he should bring up something that would calm Evan?

"So how's the whole you-and-Zoe thing going?" Jared asks, instantly regretting it even though it does just that.

"Honestly, I don't think it's going to end the way I thought it would. We're better as friends." Evan says, surprising Jared to the point that he almost doesn't see the light turn red, making him suddenly slam on the break. Instantly, his reflexes shoots his right arm out to the side, so Evan doesn't go flying forward. Okay so maybe Evan wasn't wrong to question Jared's driving “ability.”

"You think what? It's not?" Jared asks, trying to play it cool even though he totally just soccer-momed Evan.

"I just don't see it heading towards a relationship like I used to." Evan says, not commenting on the mishap even though he does appear even more wary about Jared's driving. “We're just not the perfect match."

"Good!" Jared accidentally explains, and tries to salvage his self-respect by clearing his throat and saying, "I mean, I told you it wouldn't work out anyway. But why?" With this, Jared becomes hopeful and most likely seems too interested in Evan's answer. _Wait._ _Hopeful of what?_

"It's a long story." Evan explains, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Besides, why were you always so mean about the Zoe thing anyway?"

"Saying it's a long story is just an excuse." Jared says in an almost serious tone. "I don't know. I guess I just knew it wouldn't work out." Or maybe he was just jealous. Sometimes he confused even himself with those things.

"That's the point, I was trying to make an excuse." Evan replies quietly.

"Oh." Jared says, uncomfortable with the fact that Evan was hiding something from him. For the next few minutes, the two ride in complete silence, both seeming to be thinking things through.

"Jared, are we friends?" The boy in the passenger seat wonders after a while.

"Family friends." Jared immediately says, and hates himself for it. Dammit. Why the hell couldn't he have just said yes? "I mean, technically we are friends."

Anyone could tell that Evan was hoping for a different response, because his head begins to hang slightly lower, and starts playing with the zipper on his jacket.

"Why?" Jared asks, knowing that that would've been the end of the conversation if he hadn't. And he wasn't ready for their talking to end yet.

"O-oh. No reason. I was just-" This time Jared hadn't cut off Evans speech, but regardless, Evan didn't finish his sentence.

  
“Just what?” Jared repeats, not expecting an answer, and doesn't get one.

Suddenly, Jared pulls up into the Hansen driveway, and stares at Evan expectantly.

"What?" Evan asks, still looking down and not realizing where they were.

   "We're at your house. Get out." Jared says, pushing up his glasses slightly, hoping that wasn't too rude. But there's no way it could've been taken as anything other than just that. _How about next time you say_ _“We're here” or "Want me to walk you in?" or at least something nicer, Kleinman._

"S-sorry." Evan says, scrambling to escape the car. "Thank you."

"Anytime Hansen, anytime." Jared whispers just after Evan shuts the door. Then, he bangs his hand against the steering wheel. "Damn it." 


	2. The Insanely Cool Jared Kleinman is Sad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared and his partner for a project go to A La Mode, where he sees something he doesn't like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one seems to be doing good so far! Thanks for reading! Anyway, I decided to try for a chapter 2.

"You have got to be kidding me." Jared whispers under his breath, as the teacher announces who his partner on the next group assignment will be.

"Jared, aren't you excited to be working together? You are one of my best acquaintances." Alana says, appearing into Jared's field of vision. It's not that Jared didn't like her, I mean honestly, she had motivation and a nerdy sense of humor that Jared could understand, but working with her on a whole assignment for a week? That was pushing his boundaries of comfort. Although, knowing her, it'd be only 2 days of brutal working. 

 

"Yeah totally. I'm overjoyed." Jared said in an obviously sarcastic tone, but Alana brushed it off and didn't seem to mind, although most people don't seem to mind even if they do mind.

"What topic do you want to choose? I was thinking about deforestation, because it's a serious issue." She says, a smile on her talkative face.

"Why do I surround myself with tree freaks?" Jared mumbles, but nods his head as if it's a great idea, which satisfies Alana. Just nod and confirm. 

"Great. Let's work on it at A La Mode at 7, okay?" She says, obviously being the opposite of a procrastinator, and therefore the opposite of Jared.

"Sure. Sounds terrific." He says, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. His frustration wasn't towards Alana though, it was simply directed at the teacher for giving another group-assignment. Okay, maybe a little was directed at her. 

\---

When Jared entered the ice cream shop, he immediately saw Alana, with her backpack right next to her and a notebook on the table. As soon as she saw Jared, she smiled and waved at him to sit down.

"I'm glad you could make it." She says as soon as he does, and looks at him expectantly.

"It's for school, it's not like I really had much of a choice." He says to that.

"School isn't a have-to thing, it's more of an opportunity." Alana replies, and Jared decides that it's not worth arguing over. Just nod. 

"Yeah, sure, whatever." He says, and changes the topic. "So, deforestation. Is that like an actual problem? Because last time I checked there were plenty of trees. And like, if there aren't as many trees then less kids will fall out of them."

"With the current rate of deforestation, all of the world's rain forests could vanish within the next hundred years." Alana urges. "Plus, 17% of the greenhouse gases are produced by deforestation. So yes, it is a major issue."

"Don't trees cover like 31% of the land though?" Jared asks, surprising Alana with his use of statistics.

"Currently, yes, but the number used to be higher. And trees help produce the oxygen we need to breath." Alana says, possibly beginning to lose her patience as Jared notices she's been bullet point writing this all down, in perfect handwriting. For a second, he looks away though, and sees something that catches his eye.

"Alana. I've uh, got to go. I'll be right back." He says, and begins to walk.

Wait, but we're-" Alana stops her sentence, because Jared had already begun to walk to some booth across the place.

"Hansen?" Jared asks, taking a deep breath.

"Oh, uh, Jared. I didn't know you'd be here-" Evan says, nervously. The shocking thing isn't that Evan is there though, it's who is across from Evan. The one and only Connor Murphy.

"Jared. Do you have a problem with me being here?" The Murphy boy cuts in, in a firm tone.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." He says, not bothering to look at Connor, and keeping his eyes on Evan.

"Either way, I suggest you leave. It's obvious Evan doesn't want you here." Connor says, and Evan doesn't protest, which makes Jared's heart sink. For some reason. 

And so he listens to Connor, glancing at their matching milkshakes as he leaves, walking back to Alana.

"Great! Now we can-" Whatever Alana was about to say is unknown, because she then glances at Jared, seeing how he no longer looked okay. "Never Mind, what's wrong Jared?"

Jared doesn't reply to that, he just sits down in the booth, and hides his face in his arms. Why was he getting himself so worked up over this? Maybe it wasn't what it looked like, maybe they weren't on a date. But Evan had looked like he was caught red-handed, like he didn't want Jared to see.

Alana didn't pry much more, she just looked down with concern in her eyes, and reached over and put her hand on his elbow as a way of comforting him. And oddly enough, it worked. It felt better to know that not everyone was abandoning him. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. 

Then he realized he most likely looked unbelievably pathetic. What if Evan had seen him? So he raised his head, but not before wiping away any proof of sadness. "I've got to go. Maybe tomorrow we can work on it. Or whatever."

And Alana just nods. "Same time?" And somehow Jared found that under all of the facts, she could possibly be decent to be around.That thought wasn't much of a stretch, right. 

Nodding, Jared exited A La Mode, and drove home. When he got there, he didn't say a word to his family, he just walked all the way to his room, locking it behind him.

"Fuck." He said as he punched the wall. "Dammit Evan." But Evan didn't do anything wrong. So what was Jared so upset about?


	3. That Was Not Insanely Cool, Jared Kleinman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared has lots of anger & a milkshake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't the most structurally sound chapter or anything, I'm still trying to learn how to connect scenes and figure out how characters react to things. Anyway, Thank you for reading!

The next day when Jared went to his car at the end of the school day, Evan was already standing beside it. Shocked but angry, Jared approached him.

"Jared!" Evan says once the boy with glasses was close enough to hear.

"What?" Jared says in a low voice.

"You, uh, said you would give me a ride home until my arm healed-" Evan says nervously, pointing to his cast. In Jared's mind, it seemed that the only times Evan would talk to him nowadays were when he needed something. It's highly likely that that is wrong, and Evan wouldn't do that, but that didn't make any difference in Jared's opinion.

"Oh. Yeah." Jared says, unlocking the car. "Whatever. Get in."

Once they both were in the car, Jared began to drive, not bothering to wait for Evan to buckle. "Got sick of your threesome with the Murphy's?" Jared asks.

"It's not like that and you know it." Evan says quietly, finally buckling. What do you mean Jared was supposed to know that? It sure seemed like that.

"Oh, right. Things aren't working out with Zoe. So how was your date with your new boyfriend?" Jared remarks, as his car goes faster and faster. 

Warily eyeing the speedometer, Evan says, "It wasn't a date." Oh, sure, two people just go out for milkshakes at 7 all the time, nothing to it.

Jared doesn't reply at first, but must be going at least 80 mph at this point.

"Jared, slow down..." Evan says as they reach 90. "D-dude what's gotten into you?"

"If you love them so much, maybe they should take you home." Jared then angrily says without thinking as break 100mph on the otherwise empty street. Jared didn't seem to care though, as if he was in a different world. 

"JARED STOP THE DAMN CAR!" Evan yells, breathing heavily. That seemed to bring Jared back into reality, and as fast as he could without injuring anyone, he pulled over. Maybe angry driving wasn't the best thing for Jared.

"Holy hell." Jared says, breathing heavily. He had never heard Evan cuss before, and knew he must've freaked Evan out a lot. Sure enough, when he looks up, Jared sees a terrified boy. What he notices though, is how heavy Evan is breathing. It's not just heavy breathing, it's a panic attack in formation. Instantly, Jared knows what to do.

"Focus on my voice." Jared says, his hands gripping the steering wheel. "Take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, okay? I'm right here."

Evan nods, because even if Jared is the cause, he knows he needs to gain control of his breathing.

"1...2..." Jared says as Evan breathes in. "3...4." Jared has always been good at helping Evan when he's had panic attacks. He had never tried to touch Evan during them, like most people do, and he had always reassured Evan that he could leave if he needed to, and stayed with him rather than leaving him with his destructive thoughts.

"Now breath out...1...2" Jared began, his own breathing now normal. "...3...4." And so the process was repeated until both of them were back to normal, and Evan seemed like his usual self.

"Shit dude," Jared finally says. "I am so sorry." Which is an odd thing, because the Jared Kleinman Evan knew did not apologize often at all.

"It's okay." Evan then says quietly, because what else are you supposed to do when someone breaks their usual character to admit they messed up? "And by the way, Connor and I are just friends."

"Friends?" Jared repeats, and starts to laugh. "Well, maybe you should let me in on this incredibly heartwarming friendship you have."

To that, Evan quietly laughs as well, not knowing how else to react, leaving Jared to hope Evan knew he wasn't really kidding. To some extent at least.

\---

"I'm glad you could make it!" Alana says when Jared enters the ice cream place, exactly at 7:00pm. It wasn't cool to show up late, even for some stupid project you had with the somewhat annoying teacher’s pet. 

"Oh, yeah. So uh, trees right?" Jared says, sitting down, preparing a joke. "What type of tree fits into your hand?"

"What?" Alana asks, not understanding that Jared is setting up for whatever tree joke or pun he has up his sleeve. I guess she wasn't used to people whose favorite passing time was sitting in a corner and looking up memes, occasionally snickering.

"A palm tree." Jared says, with a proud smile on his face. He had come up with that one on his own. 

With that, Alana gives an uncomfortable smile, as if she is trying not to find it amusing, but clearly does. Who knew Alana had even a small sense of humor? 

"What is a tree's least favorite month?" He asks, preparing for yet another joke.

"I'm assuming some time in the winter, because that's when they lose all of their leaves-" Alana starts to say, not quite understanding how jokes work.

"SepTIMBER." Jared replies, using the all too familiar finger guns.

At that one, Alana does give a small laugh, but quickly goes back to her serious composure. "At least that one related to deforestation."

"Oh come on, those were amusing, admit it. If not, your loss." Jared says with a shrug.

"I suppose in some situations they could be considered that." Alana says reluctantly, and then the two begin their work on the project. By 8 o'clock, Jared declares that he is hungry, and goes to order a vanilla milkshake with colorful sprinkles.

When he does go to order though, he passes by a booth with the one and only Evan Hansen, who is sitting across from the Murphy siblings. Immediately, he tenses. "Oh. Evan. Hey." He says as a common courtesy, but doesn't acknowledge the two Murphys.

"Jared, hey!" Evan says, all nice-like, even though their big fight had happened just earlier that day. "You can sit with us if you'd like, I'm sure Zoe and Connor won't mind."

Jared takes a moment to look at the two siblings, who are sitting as far apart as they can, with still being on the same side of the booth. Zoe is smiling, clarifying what Evan says, but Connor has a neutral expression, which is an improvement to his usual angry face, but still isn't inviting.

"Nah I'll have to pass." Jared says, looking back at Evan. "Alana and I are working on a school project, it wouldn't be cool to ditch her." And I am totally embarrassed that I almost killed you earlier. But Jared leaves that last part out.

"Maybe next time then." Zoe offers, and it seems as if she means it. Jared hasn't talked to her much, which makes him wonder what Evan has said about him to make her seem so sure it was a good idea. Regardless, he nods, and approaches the cashier to order his milkshake. He knows he told Evan he'd like to join the friendship, but he was now wondering if he had it in him. Technically though, he did say ´heart-warming´ friendship, which in his opinion did not reference milkshakes. So he wasn't really skipping out, right?


	4. The Insanely Cool 4 Musketeers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan convinces the Murphy's to give Jared a shot, and Jared convinces Alana to change her routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back for another chapter. I didn't feel like making this one drama-packed or anything, so it leans more on the cute friendships in formation side.

"Jared, I know we've already finished the assignment, but I was wondering if you'd like to go to A La Mode again." Alana states, with a grand smile at the end the last class.

"You know I'm gay, right?" Jared asks, just to make sure it's just one of her getting-to-know-you things. Besides, Jared would not pass up an opportunity to announce that fact.

"Yes of course I know, you make that very clear, but I was just hoping we could become better acquaintances, or possibly even friends!" Alana says, now seemingly worried that Jared might say no. "So, what do you say?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt anything..." Jared decides, "Sure, why not." Jared doesn't know why he accepts the girls request, he's definitely not a good friend after all, but he's run out of excuses, and Alana can't be that bad anyway.

"Great! Good. Cool." She says, and Jared knows he's done the right thing by the relief on her face. "See you at 7 again then?"

"Why always 7?" Jared asks, questioning her consistency. If he is going to agree with this, he might as well make it on his terms.

"Is there anything wrong with being consistent?" Alana asks, curious to hear Jared's reply.

"Let me guess, you are the kind of person who always has a nice and neat schedule, jam packed with extracurriculars for college." Jared begins, and then pauses to see if she denies. When she doesn't, Jared states. "Sometimes playing things by your own rules makes you feel like you are more in control of what happens. And in a way, it can make you less... Lonely."

With the use of that last word, Alana decides that she will listen to Jared and whatever he plans for this one event at least. Because that word can mean a lot when used correctly.

"Yeah, okay. So what outrageous time would Mr. Kleinman suggest?" Alana dares, an obvious semi-excitement in her voice. Jared notices how she looks like a child who is breaking a rule for the first time. And in that moment, he had to rethink why he was doing this. Before the whole project thing, he would have described her as annoying and a teacher's pet, the latter still applying. But maybe he could tell that she was lonely, and maybe when you take off all of the layers of sarcasm and inappropriate humor, Jared was, possibly, in a way, lonely too. So I guess he could, in a way, sort of relate to the girl standing before him and maybe that's why he was doing this.

"He suggests... Midnight." Jared states after a pause to think.

"Midnight? But-" Alana begins, and then remembers what Jared had said. "Sure... See you then."

"Great." Jared says, and waves to signal his departure. He then makes his way to the parking lot, where Evan is waiting at the car to be driven home.

"Hey." Evan says, making Jared wonder why he still wants him to drive him, even though Jared could've killed them both the day before. Evan must really have no other alternative if he wants to ride with Jared again.

"Any new drama?" Jared asks as the pair climbs into the car.

"Uh, n-no." Evan says, and even through the stutter, Jared can tell that that's the truth.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." Jared says, which confuses Evan even further. Him apologizing once was unusual, twice was unheard of.

"Are you okay, Jared?" Evan asks, somehow translating the apology as a sign of illness.

"Yeah Evan, I almost killed the both of us yesterday. And for what? But sure I'm fine." Jared says, maybe a bit too harshly but at least doesn't begin to drive, since he can tell he's getting worked up again.

"But you didn't." Evan says, trying to convince the both of them that Jared was innocent.

"You don't understand." Jared says, gripping the steering wheel so he doesn't lose control of his anger. "I got so angry at you, and you didn't do anything to deserve me flipping out."

"You probably have reasons though, even if you don't want to share them." Evan says, secretly glad that this time he can calm Jared down instead of the usual opposite. For whatever reason, Evans sureness is enough.

And so with a deep breath, Jared nods and begins to drive, calming down. "I promise I won't try to kill us this time." He says quietly, hating himself for showing Evan his emotions rather than using humor like he usually does to cover it up.

Evan nods, not even glancing at the speed, as a sign of trust. Jared notices that, and wonders what he's done to gain that trust. Absolutely nothing. He's been nothing but a jerk to Evan since they met. So why is Evan so forgiving?

"Jared, would you like to hang out with Connor, Zoe and I today?" Evan asks, and then adds. "If you don't have any plans or anything I mean-"

"Yeah, sure." Jared says, and lets himself let out a small laugh. He knows he and Connor don't exactly get along, but honestly is excited to see how they fake it. Or maybe this could be the turning point. Anything is possible, right? If Jared was (possibly) falling for the personification of anxiety in the form of Evan Hansen, then what isn't possible?

It was 5 by the time Evan knocked on Jared's door to pick him up. "Are you still up for this?" Evan asked as soon as Jared opened the red door. Jared couldn't say no to the cute, sheepish boy standing on the other side of the doorway.

And so instead of answering the normal way, Jared smirked and exited his house, shutting the door behind him. "So where's the famous stalker van?" Jared could do this. Or at least that's what he was convincing himself. Honestly, Connor kinda scared him sometimes.

"Connor's van is at the bottom of the driveway." Evan says, wondering if this was a good idea after all. "And it's not a stalker van-"

"It has tinted windows, that automatically makes it of the stalker variety." Jared argues, reaching the previously mentioned vehicle.

At that, Evan rolls his eyes in a joking manner, and hops into the vehicle, motioning for Jared to do the same.

"By the way Kleinman, you're on probation." Connor says with a smirk from the driver's seat. Jared then realizes that it must have taken a lot of convincing from Evan to get Connor to agree to this. Does that mean Evan cares enough about Jared to do that for him? Or is that just wishful thinking?

"I haven't even done anything yet." Jared protests, "Besides, where are we even going?"

"It's a secret." Connor says, and puts a finger to his lips, with a wicked grin on his face.

"Did I say stalker van? I meant kidnapping van." Jared whispers to Evan, who shakes his head, amused, but worried that Connor and Jared won't get along. But for Evan, Jared made a silent promise to play nice… as long as Connor did.

"Relax. We're just taking you on the Murphy-Hansen hangout tour." Zoe says, smiling normally from the passenger seat. The name of it was enough to make Jared suppress a cringe.

"Besides, it's not kidnapping of you agreed to get in the car." Connor says, and Zoe lightly hits his arm.

"That's enough messing with him for today Con." She says, as they reach their first destination. Jared peers out the window as they come to a step, and groans.

"Is this seriously just a field with trees?" He asks, wondering where in life he went wrong. It's not that he didn't like trees. In fact, he greatly appreciated their contribution to his ability to live. However, it was quite aggravating that everyone he knew seemed obsessed with them.

"Really dude? You hate trees too?" Connor asks, shaking his head in disapproval. "That's basically hating breathing."

"I don't hate trees, but what's the point of going here?" Jared asks, not quite understanding. "And even if I did hate trees, what would you do? Make me sit down and tell the trees why I hate them?"

"It's a special place." Evan reassures Jared, smiling. "Trust me on this one, okay?"

And that's all it takes. A couple words from Evan and you can practically call Jared a tree-hugger. "Yeah, okay. I'll give this place a shot." So maybe Jared was definitely falling for Evan.

All they do is talk. And walk. But somehow the simplicity of it doesn't drive Jared insane, and he even finds himself laughing at a joke or two from _the_ Connor Murphy. And it's... Nice. Finally, every dot begins to connect in his head. This is why Evan likes them so much. Even when the siblings argue, it doesn't feel awkward. Eventually, the group finds themselves talking about what they want to do when they graduate, embarrassing stories and whatever else comes to mind.

"Connor! You stepped on my heel again." Zoe dramatically complains, but continues to smile as if it didn't actually bother her.

"Well damn Zoe, if it keeps happening, maybe you should walk faster." Connor says, but Jared sees a small smile on his face too.

"It's not her fault your legs are longer." Jared cuts in, a smile also on his face. "Plus, the lady is always in the right."

At that, Connor snorts. "Says the gay nerd."

"Just because I'm gay it doesn't mean I'm not a gentleman. Chivalry isn't dead." Jared argues.

"You? A gentleman?" Connor questions, raising his eyebrow, his comment making both Zoe and Evan laugh.

"Boys, boys, that's enough," Zoe cuts in, bringing up a new topic. "What are your biggest fears?"

"As of an hour ago, getting kidnapped by someone driving a stalker van." Jared jokes, but then says. "But now, it's probably heights."

"Really? Heights? I can't believe I've been replaced by vertical distance." Connor jokes back, but not in a rude way. "Mine is unexpectedly dying. If i'm gonna die, I at least want a warning."

"I guess my biggest fear would have to be..." Evan took a deep breath. "D-disappearing? Like if I were to die and just be forgotten instead of remembered."

And the three others nod in an encouraging way. No one would dare judge any of their fears, because those are very personal things.

"Dang, now mine is going to sound silly..." Zoe says, biting her lip. "Crabs. That's my fear."

And once again, nobody messes around with her. They just nod in acceptance. She could've said aglets, and the group would've reacted the same. And for a moment, Jared knew that Evan had been right. This open field was indeed special.

But all good things come to an end eventually, so the four musketeers made their way back to the van. "Are you ready for part 2?" Connor asks, smirking once again from the driver's seat.

"Part 2?" Jared questions, confused. Although, they had said tour and not destination before.

"You think one small walk in a field satisfies us?" Zoe asks, in a challenging tone.

"Whatever it is, bring it." Jared says, confidently, making sure to check the time though. No matter what, he promised himself that he would not blow Alana off.

"You seem sure of yourself." Connor points out with a shrug.

With that, Evan is grinning. "It's seriously just the grocery store." He says to Jared, "They just need bagels, that's all."

"I have a feeling that even the grocery store can be a magical experience." Zoe cuts in.

"All that hype, just for the grocery store..." Jared says, pretending to be disappointed. In his heart, he knew that this day wouldn't last, and Connor would eventually return to his hatred of Jared, but sometimes pretending is what you need to do.

Before he knew it, they had arrived. The Murphy's grabbed a cart, and declared that if anyone needed anything, they'd buy it.

"Connor. We need pickles!" Zoe shouted across the bread aisle.

"You don't even like pickles!" Connor shouted back.

"Maybe I don't. But sometimes I get to thinking hey, maybe I actually do like pickles and have just been fooling myself the entire time." Zoe pleads.

"Fine, but if you don't eat 'em we aren't getting them again." Connor says, giving in.

Jared realized that sometime during the Murphy's exchange, Evan had disappeared to the unknown. Wandering the store, Jared finally finds him in the produce aisle. Evan had seemed like the type of person who would spend hours just trying to pick out the _perfect_ tomato.

"Earth to Evan." Jared jokes, approaching Evan, who seemed lost, staring at the onions.

"Oh, Jared!" Evan replies, blinking himself back into reality. "I guess I spaced out."

"Yeah you sure did." Jared says, with a smile on his face, pushing up his glasses.

"Sorry I dragged you into this-" Evan says, and it's clear to Jared that Evan is worried Jared doesn't like his new friends.

"Dude. The Murphy's are chill, don't sweat it." Jared says, as he hears a halfway full cart speed towards them. With that sentence, he notices that they really aren't as bad as he expected.

"What is this I hear about the Wondrous Murphy siblings?" Zoe's voice calls, with a hint of laughter.

"I was just telling Evan about how much I hate you guys." Jared jokes, "He could do so much better."

"Oh, come on. You know you love us." Zoe replies, a big grin on her face.

"We are irresistible after all." Connor says, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're gonna scare him away." Evan warns.

"Like the creeper van didn't already do that."

"That stings. I picked that car out myself." Connor says, pretending to clutch his heart.

With that, the bunch checks out their groceries, and begin to drive home before Connor's voice breaks the forming silence. "Zoe. We forgot the damn bagels."

\---

"I can't believe you made me sneak out in the middle of the night." Alana says, rather than a greeting.

"What can I say?" Jared says, sitting across from her. "I keep people on their toes."

"Why is this place even open this late?" Alana asks, "The only people who go here are either insane or forced to."

"Hey, the only insane I am is insanely cool." Jared reasons. "Besides, I didn't force you."

"I guess that's true." Alana says, biting her lip as a sign of defeat.

"So how do you usually do this acquaintance thing?" Jared asks, curiously.

"Well, I usually just start with small-talk and see where that leads." She answers.

"Hm. Interesting." Jared says, thinking. After a minute, he decides, "Then let's try that."

"Okay." She says, "Generally speaking, how are you?"

"Oh, just fabulous." Jared says, as if he just realized that she really meant basic small-talk, "And you?"

"I suppose I'm also quite decent." She pauses, thinking of the next question. "What's your favorite color?"

"I guess I have a soft spot for blue." Or more specifically boys in blue. Either way, that served as his answer. "And yours?"

And so the conversation between the two continued on and on. With this, Alana got a chance to talk her ear off, but to Jared's surprise, she was also a really good listener, and Jared found himself talking more than he had expected. Mostly through jokes and the sharing of weird memes of course, but also sometimes in a serious way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for not knowing how to end chapters very well, and totally misrepresenting Jared's character. 
> 
> Also, I don't know why I seem to be obsessed with grocery store trips today.


	5. The Insanely Cool Jared Kleinman At The Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared and Evan go to the movies, with the approval of Mama Kleinman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got around to revising the previous chapters again, so some things may have changed. 
> 
> Here goes another chapter I guess.

  
"What were you doing out late last night?" Jared hears his mother question, waking him up instantly.

"Mom… I'm trying to sleep." Jared says with a groan, rolling over, putting his pillow over his head to cancel out noise.

"Just answer me." She says with a sigh. She was used to Jared lying to her, but it was always worth a shot to ask.

"Fine." He mumbles, sitting up and putting his glasses on, that were on his nightstand. "I was at A La Mode."

"Why were you there so late?" Mrs. Kleinman wonders. "Were you with a boy?"

"Oh god no mom." Jared says, attempting to fix his bedhead. "I was hanging out with a girl from school."

To that, his mom nods, accepting that as an answer. "Alright. Just tell me next time you are planning to sneak out so late at night."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Jared replies, brushing it off, as she starts walking out of the room.

"Breakfast and something else are waiting for you downstairs" She calls as Jared shuts the door to his room, getting dressed, and was thankful that it was Saturday.

As he headed downstairs, he wondered what his mom meant by 'and something else.' What could be waiting for him? Sure enough, he found out when he reached the main floor. Evan Hansen was sitting at his kitchen table, with a bowl of cereal right in front of him. Evan seemed to be talking to Ms. Kleinman about the weather, which might be useless, awkward small-talk for most people, but those two were having an in depth conversation about it.

"Evan?" Jared says, announcing his presence. "What brings you here?" Honestly, it made him uncomfortable whenever his mom and Evan were in the same room, because the two of them knew Jared in completely different ways. For example, his mom thought he was a great friend to Evan, and they hung out all of the time, but Evan knew Jared as a jerk who only talked to for car insurance. Yeah okay, so maybe that wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't easy to fix in the blink of an eye. It's not that Jared didn't want Evan to see him as a good friend, it was more that he didn't want Evan to catch on to the whole Jared is falling for him thing, because that would make things weirder than they already seemed to be.

"O-oh. My mom bought two tickets to some movie, and she found out that she couldn't go. So, uh, w-would you want to come with me?" Evan answers, suddenly worrying that this might have been a bad idea, and what if Jared said no? To Jared, that sounded like a date, but he knew that it was in fact not one. 

Jared looked up to his mom, who was nodding encouragingly at Jared to accept the proposal, so he bit back his usual sarcastic reply, and instead said. "Yeah, I guess, since I don't have anything else to do today-" Maybe his mom being there was a good thing, because it made him pretend to be a better person.

"Oh! C-cool." Evan blurts out, barely waiting for Jared to finish speaking. "I mean, are you sure you want to? It might not be your type of movie-"

"Like I said, I have nothing better to do." Jared shrugs, but wonders. "What kind of movie is it anyway?" _Please don't be romance. Please don't be romance._

"It's a romance movie my mom wanted to see-" Evan says, shrugging, and takes a bite of his cereal. _Shit_.

"Of course it is." Jared mutters, and sits down in his spot at the kitchen table. It just had to be a romance movie, didn't it? Don't get Jared wrong, it's not that he hated romance movies. Honestly, deep down, he had a guilty pleasure of watching them. Some of them were actually pretty good after all. But two boys going alone to see one, especially when one of the boys was gay, made some people suspicious, and even if Jared did in fact like Evan, it didn't mean he wanted anyone to know or be suspicious of that. Besides, it's not like he wanted people to know he secretly liked romance movies anyway.

"It's okay, Jared can handle it." Mrs. Kleinman cuts in, before Evan can suggest that they just forget about it, since Jared didn't seem up to the task.

"Okay, cool. Good." Evan says, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, and finishing his bowl of cereal as Jared started his. Jared was a fast eater though, and practically inhaled the Reese's Puffs.

"When is the movie anyway?" Jared wonders, putting both his and Evan's bowl in the sink. You see, Jared Kleinman respected his mother's rules of the kitchen, and that rewarded him with a smile of approval from her. She was proud of her boy cleaning up after himself (and Evan).

"It's at 7:30." Evan answers.

"Wait so you came all this way to wake me up at 9 in the morning, when the movie isn't until 7:30?" Jared says, shaking his head. "I could have had at least 3 more hours of sleep." Jared was a simple man. He liked sleep, a lot.

"Well, I wasn't sure if you wanted to go, and if you weren't going to, I would need time to return the tickets or convince Zoe to go with me, and-" Evan began to ramble, but was cut off by Jared.

"Nevermind, if it would have caused you that much anxiety to wait, it's fine."

\---

By 6:30, Jared decided to start getting ready for the outing. He was wearing a brown shirt under an unbuttoned red shirt, and a classic pair of jeans. To assure himself that he was ready, he stood in the mirror and told himself that he looked awesome, and used his famous finger-guns. Social interaction? Never fear, Jared Kleinman is here, and can totally handle it.

"Jared, Evan's here." Mrs. Kleinman called, by then it was probably around 7:00.

Heading down the stairs, Jared replied. "Cool."

"Hey." Evan greets, super casually.

"You ready?" Jared asks, grabbing his keys. He receives a nod from the other boy, and just like that they're off onto the open road, on the way to the movies. But who could have a movie without snacks? So stuffed in Jared's pockets were small boxes of candy. You could say Jared was prepared.

When they arrived, the boys strolled in, past the first section where you buy your tickets since Heidi had already bought them, and straight to the guy that ripped them in half, and told you what theater to enter. When they gave him their tickets, the man gave Jared and his candy-stuffed jeans a weird look. His name tag read ' _Philip_ ' and Jared gave himself a silent note to dislike Philip and his attitude.

"Theater 2 is to your left." Philip, the punkass bitch, says drearily as if he hasn't slept in 2 days.

"Thank you." Evan says politely, and they walk into theater 2. Dang it Evan, why did you have to be nice to Philip? Does that mean I have to be nice to Philip now? You see, Jared was still getting used to what having a crush meant, and was unaware if you had to tolerate everyone they liked.

When they enter the theater, they snag two seats in the back of the theater, because the front where Evan likes to sit is already full, which is a plus for Jared, who only likes to see movies in the back row. When they sit, Jared starts emptying out his pockets, and provides a stack of Mike n Ikes, M&Ms, Reeses Pieces, Kit-Kats, Swedish Fish, and various other candies.

"Shoot I forgot to get popcorn. I'll be right back." Jared says, and heads to the concessions.

"Hey Justin, dude, what's up?" Jared asks, using finger-guns as he announces his presence to the current worker, Justin, who went to their school. Justin did not like Jared. But Jared was cool with pretending that wasn't the case.

"Great. You're here." Justin grumbles. "What do you want?"

"In the flesh." Jared says, and adds. "Who says I want something? Maybe I just came over to talk, my man."

"This is literally my job, don't waste my time." Justin says, glaring at Jared.

"Fine, fine." Jared says. "I'll take a large popcorn."

Within seconds, the popcorn is handed to Jared, who pays up, and heads back to theater 2.

"Jared, the movie is about to start." Evan says as Jared returns to his seat, on the right side of Evan, so his good arm is closest to Jared. And the popcorn. Finally, the movie does begin, and as the two chow down on the popcorn and other snacks, there is no accidental hand touching where they all of a sudden realize they are in love just because of the brushing of their hands. Instead, there is complaining about who's armrest it is supposed to be, and who deserves it most. In the end, Evan won, because he played the broken arm card. Honestly, that was kind of a relief to Jared. Just because he sometimes found the other boy cute, it didn't mean he was comfortable doing anything about it yet.

Jared found himself interested in the plot of the movie. Sure, it was super cliché, but compelling nonetheless. It was about a girl who missed her train for an interview, and some guy offered to take her there. Not seeing any alternative, she accepted the offer, and after that the guy just kept coincidentally popping up everywhere she went, and she found herself falling for him and him for her. Throughout the movie, Evan and Jared didn't talk much, it appeared as if they both were immersed in the story.

When it ended, they were all out of popcorn and some of their snacks, but they still unsurprisingly had a few boxes leftover. Heading past Justin, Philip, and whatever lady was at the ticket booth, they left the building, and climbed into Jared's car.

"So, what'd you think of the movie?" Jared asks, initiating small-talk mode.

"I thought it was pretty good." Evan replies, "Sorry I made you suffer through that."

"It's cool," Jared says. "If all romance movies were like that, I wouldn't hate them as much."

"Well, they kind of all are like that-" Evan begins to say.

"Don't test me, Hansen." Jared warns.

"It'll be our little secret." Evan says, shaking his head with amusement.

\---

About an hour after Jared dropped Evan off at his house, he heard a knock on his door. Curious, he answered the door, and in front of him was Zoe Murphy, holding a jar of pickles.

"Yeah?" Jared questions, not understanding why she is there.

"I need a favor." She says with a hopeful smile. "Can you pretty please hold onto these pickles for me? Connor threatened to throw them away if I didn't eat them all, and it turns out I still don't like pickles, but that doesn't mean they deserve to be thrown away and if I gave them to Evan he would find out… So what do you say?"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." Jared says, "Just weird enough for me to agree."

"Thank you!" Zoe says, handing the pickle jar to Jared, and then briefly hugging him. "I knew I could count on you." After that, she turned and walked away, leaving Jared confused, and with a bunch of pickles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what'd you think? 
> 
> Yeah I know the flow is shitty, but I tried okay? I hope y'all find a way to enjoy it.


	6. The Insanely Cool Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared helps plan a birthday party for Evan, and Evan and him chill a bit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly a month later...  
> And I come back with the shortest and worst chapter yet wow. As you can probably tell, I had a bit of a slump with this story where I had too many choices to make and I didn't know what path I wanted the story to go down. I ended up going with one that wasn't even in the running so that probably says a lot about me.

It was Sunday; the Lord's day. And yet Jared Kleinman woke up to a knock on the door from just about everyone's favorite druggie: Connor Murphy. However, this was not Jared's favorite, regardless of the adventure they had had two days prior. Don't get him wrong, they didn't completely hate each other now, they just weren't near number one in each others lives. 

“What?” Jared asks grumpily, since he had just woken up. 

“I know what you must be thinking.” Connor says, “What is this handsome-looking young man doing at your front door on this fine Sunday morning?” 

To that, Jared rolls his eyes. “Seriously?” Jared wasn't amused. 

With that, Connor shrugs, and says. “Fine fine. I'm here because a certain something has forcibly been brought to my attention.”

“Just spit it out.” Jared complains, most likely because he would appreciate a few more hours of sleep and the option of not hearing Connor’s voice. 

“Geez. Impatient much…” Connor mutters, before finally delivering his message. “Evan's birthday is coming up.”

“That's all you had to say?” Jared says, blankly staring at Connor. 

“One more thing-” Connor assures. “Zoe is planning a birthday party for him. And she made it clear that she wants both you and me to help.”

“Of course she does.” Jared acknowledges, knowing that this would not be an optional thing. When it came to Zoe, you couldn't exactly get out of helping. She had a way of making sure it all went according to her plan. 

\---

“Balloons.” Zoe states, looking at all of the colorful packages, and then expectantly at the two boys beside her. 

“What about balloons?” Jared asks, clearly not understanding the purpose. 

“Zoe. He doesn't get it.” Connor says as if there is something to get. 

“Balloons are the backbone to a good celebration.” Zoe firmly states. “So if we are going to pull of the best birthday party ever, which it will be nothing less than, then we need balloons.”

“So let's just grab one and go-” Jared begins to say, but is cut off. 

“Just grab one? This is a delicate matter. Only the best will do.” Connor says, pretending to be offended as a way of mocking Zoe. 

“Mock all you want Connor, but this is really important.” Zoe counters. “It's for Evan.”

And somehow with that reminder, Jared saw just how important it was. Was he really that pathetic? One mention of Evan and then he's suddenly sold. 

“Okay. Balloons.” Jared confirms, and so day one of party preparations had begun. 

\---

“If it gets to be too much then you guys can stop you don't have to do this for me…” Evan says. 

“Dude. We are doing this party for you.” Jared reassures. “Besides, it'd be too late to back down now. We've already gotten a lot of the decorations.”

To that, Evan nods. “Okay. Just know that if you guys ever don't want to anymore or realize that I don't deserve it and you don't like me anymore or–”

“Evan. Take a breath.” Jared reassures. “I'm not one for seriousness, but I'm not going anywhere. You're kinda stuck with me.”

To that, Evan looked over and smiled at Jared, because in some weird way, that was reassuring. 

“Shit.” Jared says under his breath, breaking the aura of their previous conversation. “Apparently when I say something serious, I fall in water.”

You see, Jared had invited Evan over to his house, “because he was bored.” And they had been playing a game on the computer together, by the name of Fireboy and Watergirl. And yes, they may or may not have been sharing Jared's computer chair, squashed together since he only had the one. But at least Jared didn't say car insurance as an excuse to get Evan to hang out. In that aspect, progress was being made. 

“Sorry.” Evan mumbles, out of habit, making Jared shake his head out of amusement. Even though Jared had been the one to die and make them restart the level, which was somewhat unusual for Jared since he was usually pretty good when it came to gaming, Evan was the one who felt the need to apologize. 

Eventually, they grew tired of the game, and decided to chill in Jared's room, to talk for a bit. A while into the chatter, Evan said something that caught Jared off guard. 

“You've been a lot nicer to me recently, is there a reason for that?” 

With that, Jared shifted uncomfortably. Yes, this was true. Jared had noticed that he had begun to leave out some of his usual rude and more times than not sexual jokes and began to say a few more serious things instead. But was he really that much of a jerk before he realized that he was developing feelings for Evan? Was it that noticeable?

“Is that a, uh, bad thing?” He asks as a reply. 

“Not at all.” Evan reassures. “It's just different.” 

To that, Jared nods. He can accept that. Who knows if it's better this way, but a change in behavior was what he was hoping for and at least he knows he's not fucking up by sprinkling a little less unkindness in his speech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was it--  
> Thanks for reading!!


	7. The Insanely Cool Senior Picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the events of this somewhat glorious chapter, Jared chooses a bold statement for his senior picture, everyone's little boy Evan gets a little anxious, Jared really tries to show that he cares, and Mamma Kleinman finds pickles in her fridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Guess who's back (back again).
> 
> Enjoy!

Sadly for Jared Kleinman, school was back in the picture. Not just in the picture, but it was picture day for any senior who hadn't scheduled an appointment outside of school. 

  Jared was not scared by this fact, honestly. School pictures did not phase him, no, he phased THEM. For example, if anyone had thought Jared would be the one to dress nicely, try contacts just for the occasion, or even simply went as he normally was, they would be wrong. 

  Instead, the morning of picture day, Jared Kleinman was staring himself in the mirror, finger-guns full force, and grinning like a maniac. Last night, he had an epiphany. He could not call himself the Insanely Cool Jared Kleinman and not have a temporary tattoo of Pepe the Frog on his face for his senior pictures. 

  When he went downstairs, his mother simply shook her head with a smile and sent him out the door, breakfast burrito in hand. 

  Jared Kleinman wouldn't call himself a _fan_  of Abba necessarily, but that is not to say that he was not blasting the Mamma Mia soundtrack while driving one handed and eating his breakfast burrito, occasionally checking out his new temporary ink in the mirror. 

  Today was going to be a good day. That's just something you know when you have the self confidence to walk into school, wearing a meme on your face for the world to see. 

  When he got to school, Connor was the first person he saw, “Oh my God…” He said, chuckling. 

  “Jared Kleinman, ladies and gentlemen…” Connor says as he sees Zoe and Evan walk towards them. 

  “I can't believe you did this,” Zoe says, “You're my idol.”

  “Are you replacing me?” Connor accuses her, “With  _ him _ ?” 

  “How humble of you, Murphy,” Jared says with a glare. Jared quickly looked over to Evan for backup, but Evan seemed in his own little world, gripping on the strings of his jacket as if they were his lifeline. 

  “Hey, Evan… are you okay?” Jared asks, stopping his conversation with the Murphy’s. 

  “Oh-h, yeah, I'm f-fine,” Evan sputters out, and Jared can tell that the smile he puts on is forced. 

  Before he can comment further, the warning bell sounds, and Evan speeds away, leaving Jared there to wonder what's really going on. 

  When Jared is called down for pictures, the photographer stares at Jared’s face with a curious, yet horrified expression. 

  “Are you sure there's nothing you'd like to fix?” She presses, and Jared knows exactly what she's talking about, but he shakes his head. 

  “Absolutely not. I have not gone here for over 3 years just to have a generic picture,” 

  And suddenly, her glance is no longer horrified, and she smiles, taking the picture. Due to the glare in his glasses, however, it has to be retaken several times, but it gets done in the end, leaving Jared satisfied. 

  “Sup, homies,” Jared says at lunch, sitting down at the table Evan, Connor, and Zoe sat at for the first time. 

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Connor mutters under his breath. 

  “Connor!” Zoe exclaims, lightly hitting him on the shoulder. 

  “I think he's still mad that you called me your idol,” Jared says with a shrug. “Not that I can blame you for choosing an idol that's insanely cool.”

  For the rest of lunch, they playfully argue about that, but Jared glances at Evan, who isn't alright, and he knows he should say something again. 

  So when the end of lunch comes, and he's about to bolt, Jared grabs his hand, and says, “Wait.” 

  And this catches Evan off guard, so much so that he does wait. 

  “Evan, what's going on?” 

  “I-i've got to get to class,” Evan says quickly, stumbling over his words. 

  “Not until you tell me what the hell is going on,” Jared insists, looking Evan straight in the eye. Jared knows that Evan has the tendency to spill out lies when regarding how he is or what's going on, but he can never bring himself to do so when the person is looking him in the eyes. 

  “I-it’s just going to s-sound stupid,” Evan says. “S-sorry for troubling you.”

  “Dammit, Evan. Listen to me, I'm not going to let you leave until you tell me what's going on, and it's going to be the truth as well,” and Jared knows he's being too obvious that he cares, which goes against what his normal rules for conversation are, and he realizes that he doesn't care. Because he wants Evan to know he cares. 

  “O-okay,” Evan says, and the two sit back down at the table. “It's just that I've been really worried lately, because my brain feels like a lot has been happening.”

  “What's been worrying you?” Jared asks, and Evan is surprised, as if he is finally realizing that Jared cares, at least this time, and Jared notices this, watching Evan process what seems like new information. 

  “M-my mom has been at work a lot lately, and she's not really home much, so I keep worrying that s-something is going to happen to her when she's gone, or that I'm going to need her and she's not going to be there, and then there's the Murphy’s who are great, but I feel like I disappoint them somehow,” At this point, Evan has to pause for a long breath, before continuing. “And then there's you, and it's really confusing, because one minute I'm a family friend, and the next you're here at a lunch table, about to miss class because you were worried about me.”

  It takes Jared a moment to absorb all of this information, but when he does, he says, “I'm sorry that your mom is working a lot, I can't really do anything about Heidi, but if something ever does happen, you can text me, I promise I won't mind, and I know I used to tell you to never text me, that I just needed you number because of my mom or something, but…” Jared begins, hoping that he's not being too obvious of exactly how much he cares, before realizing that it shouldn't matter how much he cares. “I'm serious. If you so little as figure out that you're terrified of flies and you see one, text me and I'll be right there if I can. As for the Murphy’s, you physically could not disappoint them if you tried, Evan. Zoe adores everyone, and if you somehow even got Connor Murphy to not hate you, then you're a miracle worker, and their opinions on you will never change.” 

  And then it's Evans turn to take in the information. And when he does, he simply says, “Then that just leaves you.”

  “Yeah, that just leaves me,” Jared says, barely a breath. “I've always cared to some extent, Evan, the only difference now is that I was a huge douche before, and now I'm trying to simply be a little less of one.” 

  “D-does this mean we’re friends?” Evan asks after a while, looking at Jared. “Not just family friends?”

  To that, Jared almost has to laugh, “Yeah, Evan. We're friends.”

  And so Jared finally let's go of Evan's arm,  and the two get up, about to go to class, preparing to riddle off some excuse as to why they were late.

  “Hey, Evan?” Jared says before they leave the cafeteria. 

  “Yeah?” 

  “For the record, there is no way in Hell that I'm going to be serious for that long ever again,” Jared says, cracking a smile. “Especially while Pepe is on my face. Besides, that was totally crushing my mojo. I have a big personality that should never be held down like this.”

  To this, Evan laughs, and Jared notes how adorable Evan's laugh is when he's actually really laughing, and not just as a cover-up for his stuttering. Right then and there, Jared decides that he loves making Evan laugh like this. 

  “I can't believe you actually put a temporary tattoo of Pepe the Frog on your face for picture day.”

\---

  At the end of the day, Jared found Evan waiting by his car as usual. 

  “Never fear, the Kleinman Mobile is ready to roll,” Jared snazzily greets. 

  “Hey, Jared,” Evan says quietly, but not in an unusual way for him, which Jared notices, and is happy to see that he is no longer in his own little world, but very here in an Evan way. 

  On the ride home, Jared puts on his Mamma Mia CD once more,and before Evan gets a chance to question it, Jared says, “I got it because it was part of a BOGO, and I might as well get my money's worth.”

  “I like Mamma Mia, so it's cool,” Evan says, tapping his foot to the rhythm of the song.

  And to that, Jared really has to smile at his dork of a crush, because  _ of course _ Evan likes Mamma Mia and romance movies, because  _ he's Evan _ , and Jared loves that about him. Likes? Loves? Either way, Jared ends up with a smile on his face. 

\---

  After Jared drops Evan off and arrives at home for himself, he is sitting at the kitchen table, doing a crossword puzzle, as his mom begins to cook dinner. 

  Jared doesn't really do crossword puzzles usually, but this one was about superheroes, and you can't not try to see if you're knowledge of superheroes is superior to the paper’s, now can you?

  “How was school?” Mrs. Kleinman asks, attempting to make smalltalk.

  “Oh, it was awesome. I love school,” Jared says sarcastically. “And making out with all of the girls between passing period.”

  “Ha-ha, very funny. Really though, how was it?” She says, getting ingredients out. 

  “The usual.” He says with a shrug, debating about whether or not Captain America was attractive, since he just filled in his name on the crossword puzzle.  

  “When did we get pickles?” She asks, pulling out Zoe’s jar curiously. 

  And all Jared Kleinman can do in response is laugh so hard that he  _almost_ falls out of his chair. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo how was that? 
> 
> Also Jared does have a father figure in this, however, they do not have a close relationship, so they probably won't really speak all too much.


End file.
